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Depending on your personal TV tastes, you may equate veteran actor Chris Noth with "Mr. Big" on Sex and the City. Or perhaps you think of him as Detective Mike Logan from Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Or maybe you're most familiar with Noth's current role, that of scandalous politician Peter Florrick on The Good Wife.

Regardless, you may not think of him as the type of guy who's super into period pieces. But not only does Noth enjoy watching them—as you'll soon see below—he recently finished filming one: The 12-part miniseries Titanic: Blood and Steel, which debuts tonight on Encore. You won't find any Leonardo DiCaprio love stories here—Titanic: Blood and Steel focuses on the construction and sinking of the legendary ship, and Noth stars as American tycoon J.P. Morgan, the man who paid for and owned the famously "unsinkable" vessel. (Neve Campbell, Kevin Zegers, Liam Cunningham, and Derek Jacobi also star.)

In honor of tonight's premiere, I talked to Noth about his Titanic experience, Peter and Alicia's chances on The Good Wife, and, of course, his favorite TV shows. Here's what he had to say.

Your latest project is a TV miniseries called Titanic: Blood and Steel. Did you cry when you first saw the 1997 James Cameron movie?

I did not cry. It was a fabulous spectacle, and it was a good old-fashioned movie, but yeah—it didn't make me cry."

In the new miniseries, you play American financier J.P. Morgan. How did you prepare for the role?

Did what I could. I read a few books about him, and found him to be a very interesting yet very mysterious character, maybe unfairly represented historically. There isn't any film about him, and I had a ton of pictures, read a lot about his life... just jumped in.

What challenges did you face during filming?

The most challenging thing was I would've loved to hear the quality of [Morgan's] voice. I wanted to get a sense of what his dialect was. He was American, but that could mean a lot of things. I knew he wasn't from the South, most of this cast was British, and you don't want a contemporary sound since people talked differently in the turn of the century than they do now.

On The Good Wife, is there any hope for Alica and Peter's relationship?

I have no idea if I'm going to win, if the marriage is going to last, I just don't know, really. The show has been getting better and better and this season feels like it will be the best. So many great actors, best ensemble I've ever worked with, headed by Julianna Margulies.

And now the question of the hour: What are you five favorite TV shows, and why?

I'm not going to go through each one, but I will say all of them never sacrificed character for storytelling. The period pieces were done with fantastic precision. And, it always has to do with bringing you into the lives of people; especially in the period pieces. What the time is like, so that you really learn something about what it was like to live on the planet a hundred years ago or a thousand years ago. The detail, wonderful detail, in the acting and the production—that's all I'll say.

And now, here are Noth's five six favorite TV shows, in no particular order:

Brideshead Revisited

Downton Abbey

Mad Men

Rome

I, Claudius

The Sopranos (bonus!)

What do you think of Noth's picks? Did any of them surprise you?

The first two parts of Titanic: Blood & Steel premiere tonight at 8pm on Encore. The network will continue airing two parts per night through October 13.

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Irish actor Chris O'Dowd has both Hollywood and London in his pocket. After starring in the British series (and U.S. cult hit) The I.T.Crowd, the actor landed a variety of roles in U.S. films—including the Jay Roach-produced comedy Dinner For Schmucks, Jack Black's Gulliver's Travels, Friends with Kids, and the Judd Apatow blockbuster Bridesmaids. O'Dowd has also guested on a handful of TV series, most recently the HBO comedy Girls. And his latest project is the Victorian-era miniseries called The Crimson Petal and the White, which makes its American debut tonight at 8pm on Encore.

We recently caught up with O'Dowd while he was filming in Europe; here's what he had to say about his acting influences, his favorite chick flick, and of course, his five favorite TV shows.

O'Dowd as William Rackham, with Romola Garai as Sugar, in The Crimson Petal and the White.

Your latest project is a TV miniseries called The Crimson Petal and the White. Can you tell us about the project and your character?

It's the tragic story of a man who feels trapped in his marriage and incapable of leading the life that people expect of him. So he runs to the arms of a prostitute and surprisingly, that doesn't work out well.

What attracted you to project initially?

I thought that they were just beautiful scripts. I've never been a huge period drama fan, but it kind of told a story that I related to a lot more. I related to the dirt. I don't know what high-life society is like, so it's never been something that has attracted me. But low-life—loads of experience with that.

Are you hoping to do more TV work?
Yeah, I'm going to do a little bit more. I'm going to do a show with Christopher Guest called Family Tree. I think it's gonna be good. I'm going to do a little bit more on Girls, the HBO show. And, I've just written my own project for Sky TV in Britain and the U.K., Britain and Ireland. That's called Moone Boy.

In the U.S., you've appeared in a handful of rom-coms; do you have a favorite chick-flick?

Oh, I have loads. I mean... God... wow. It's hard to beat When Harry Met Sally, I think.

What about your influences? What are some of shows, movies, and people that have helped shaped your career?

I've always loved Will Ferrell's stuff. In terms of TV, I was a big fan of Roseanne growing up. It was the only one of those American comedies, where I could relate to the family dynamic of people having problems with each other (laughs). And, I grew up on Cheers, I watched Cheers with my dad for sure. And I guess later, I was a big Curb Your Enthusiasm fan. That kind of showed me how funny you can be when you don't write it all down. And Christopher Guest, I was a huge fan of all of his stuff. I think I used to have like Spinal Tap on in my college dorm room, on repeat.

And now, here are O'Dowd's five favorite television shows, in no particular order.

"I'm going to go with Fawlty Towers for just that kind of virtual, sole, male performance. And making farts not seem silly, but hysterical.

"I love the American Office. Because I think the performances in it, across the board, are exceptional."

"I like the worthiness of it."

"It's just the best writing in television."

"I wanted to be a lawyer from the age of 10. And when I reached the time when I was going to go to college and found out what it was all about, I had no interest in it anymore. I realized I thought "law" was what L.A. Law was. And then I realized what I actually wanted to do was just live in L.A."

What do you think of O'Dowd's picks? Did any of them surprise you?

The Crimson Petal and the White airs tonight at 8pm on Encore.

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